Hope Week #3: Beauty All Around

 Hope seems so illusive. Just when you think you understand it and feel it, you wonder if hope is what you are feeling after all. The sun is shining brightly and hope is a refreshing breeze floating by and then gone. Where can we find it again? Where should we look? I think we can start with beauty. It is all around us, giving us hope that life can be better one day just as it is in this one golden sunrise, one warm snuggle in the middle of the night, one strain of sweet music. What beauty is inspiring you to be more hopeful today? Share a pic and a comment!

One of our favorite places to visit over the past year has been the Birdsong Trail at Mendon Ponds Park. Every bird that pecks seeds from our open hands is a delight. On a cold bleak day these moments are golden.

The sky on the way home. I love pink especially in the sky.

"I've found that there is always some beauty left--in nature, sunshine, freedom, in yourself: these can all help you." ~ Anne Frank

Hope Week #2: The Hope of Heaven

Faith gives us the hope of heaven. There is a place we cannot see but we believe we have access to its reality through our faith in the grace and forgiveness of a loving God who has prepared a place for us. What does heaven look like to you? A friend recently shared a Scripture: Psalm 56: 8 which tells about the tossing and turning of grief, tears shed and kept in bottles by God (The Living Bible translation). Her honesty about life inspired me to write this poem. May the hope of heaven give us greater strength for today.

Morning in Paradise

 I awoke to

Sun

Rays beaming, bright 

My eyes, squinting

Air swirling, gently

Lifting me

Up from slumber

Pulling me to a sandy shore

Toes

Sinking into sand, soft

Sparkling white

Eyes open finally 

Awake

Dazzled by

Emeralds glistening, gliding, splashing 

In waves

Against my bare ankles

This sea calling to me

Suddenly I dive in

Head under

Skin slipping through coolness, refreshing

Then floating on my back

Looking into clear sapphires, shining

Diving once more under

Looking, searching, discovering

A thousand maybe, but not two

Tiny bottles, nestled

Cozy in the sandy bottom of this sea

Resting, waiting

Voices draw me back to the surface

 I hear laughter, giggles

I cannot see the faces

For I am here in paradise

Waiting for you

On this beautiful beach now

Surrounded by the music of 

Joy, rising

Rising

Rising 

From hearts

Below.